Tofino, British Columbia – Big Trip 2019

Sunday 8 September – sunny and a bit rainy 15 to 18 Celsius.

Off to Tofino and Pacific Rim National Park.  Most campgrounds were booked, we finally got a site at Mackenzie Beach Resort, site 15. This is not the greatest campground but we have stayed in worse. It’s a big  gravel lot and the trailers back up to a wooden fence. We picked the biggest site as we were given a choice of all the empty sites.  You pay for your showers and I forget exactly the cost but it was considerably more than other places we have had to pay.

We set up and then we drove into town and parked.

We walked all around the town, up one side and down the other and all along the water. The town is set on the water.  This is a really cute place, not hard to walk the whole town. We booked our bear tour with West Coast Aquatic Safari. We go tomorrow!

We drove to Tofino Distillery and tried some liquor but it was very expensive and also I didn’t like it.

Then we went to the Tofino brewery. It was packed and BUT until seats opened you were allowed to stand at a side bar and have free samples until seats became available.   That was okay with me!  When we got a seat, we each got a glass of beer and they have a pretty good IPA. We chatted with two young Scots men that were visiting here from Scotland and sitting at the next table.

We saw lots of deer hanging out in the area, some right in town.

Monday 9 September  – sunny 15 to 18 Celsius and a bit of  rain later in the day. Drove to Radar Hill and walked up to the Kapyong Memorial which is the site of a historic radar station during WWII.  This memorial is in honour of the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry who served during the Korean War.  We walked a trail around the area and it’s a very picturesque area and lots of views.

Then off to Incinerator Rock Beach. Very cool rock formations in the water. At Long Beach we watched the surfers for quite some time.

Then to Combers Beach. It was a very long downhill walk to get to the beach. We sat there for a while on some old logs and then climbed back up.

On to the Visitor Centre and then Witt Beach. Some places were closed to tourists, like Grice Bay and Schooner Cove.

Almost Tour Time !  We headed to the waterfront to get on our boat  for our 4 o’clock tour. We had to be at the boat at 330 and the tour was from 4-6 PM.  They gave everyone a big warm coat to wear, it’s pretty windy on the water.  Clint and I stood at the back by ourselves the whole trip. They also had an upper level with chairs that people were sitting at. We were better off in the back of the boat anyway. We saw a sea lion on a rock, which they said was unusual as you normally don’t see Sea Lions in this part of the cove. We saw seven bears on the shoreline. A mom and baby, a cub by himself, and 4 adults.  We were unable to get very close to the shoreline so the pictures aren’t the best.  Lots of other boats out there too.

We got off the boat and walked up to The Shed for dinner and it was really, really good. They had mostly bowls on their menu. All different kinds. Clint had kale and salmon and mine was a mixture of vegetables and rice. I don’t know why I have photos but I highly recommend this place for a bite to eat.  Great food, beer and great staff.

I can’t remember where I saw this sign but I thought it was funny.

 

Tuesday 10 September. –  Clint’s back and leg is really bad. He is okay to sit in the truck, he just can’t really walk. We drove to Ucluelet.

 

On the way we stopped at the Wild Pacific Trailhead because I spotted a guy in a costume standing at the side of the road. He was dressed as Knuckles the Whale who is Uclelet’s mascot.  I chased him up the trail to get a photo with me and Trum.  He was there with two other people and I believe they were making tourism videos.  Pretty funny.

Then we drove all around Uclelet and down by the marina.  We stopped in a drug store and got some meds for Clint. Then we walked over to the Blue Room for brunch.  Cute little place and the food was good.  After we drove around some more and I spotted this wall mural on the side of the Bayshore Waterfront Inn.  Nice colours.

They have a distillery here but they had no rye’s for Clint to try so we didn’t stay.  But they did have a Distillery Dog !    A new brewery’s being built but it is not open yet.

Tomorrow we take a ferry over to Vancouver Island!